Environmentally robust micro-wineglass gyroscope

1. A method for fabricating an environmentally robust micro-wineglass gyroscope comprising: stacking and bonding of at least an inner glass layer and an outer glass layer to a substrate wafer; plastically deforming the inner glass layer into a mushroom-shaped structure and deforming the outer glass layer into a shield capable of extending over the inner glass layer, while leaving the inner and outer glass layers connectable at a central post location; removing the substrate layer and a portion of the inner glass layer so that a perimeter of the inner glass layer is free; and bonding the deformed inner and outer glass layers to a handle wafer.

2. The method of claim 1 , where bonding the deformed inner and outer glass layers to a handle wafer comprises directly bonding the mushroom-shaped structure of the inner glass layer to the handle wafer only at the central post location of the mushroom structure of the inner glass layer.

3. The method of claim 1 , where bonding the deformed inner and outer glass layers to a handle wafer comprises indirectly bonding the mushroom-shaped structure of the inner glass layer to the handle wafer through the shield of the deformed outer glass layer which is bonded to the handle wafer around a periphery of the shield.

4. The method of claim 2 , where bonding the deformed inner and outer glass layers to a handle wafer comprises indirectly bonding the mushroom-shaped structure of the inner glass layer to the handle wafer through the shield of the deformed outer glass layer which is bonded to the handle wafer around a periphery of the shield, creating a double ended support for the mushroom-shaped structure with environmental robustness.

5. The method of claim 1 , where bonding the deformed inner and outer glass layers to a handle wafer comprises bonding the outer glass layer to the handle wafer at a perimeter of the outer glass layer to create a hermetic seal around the mushroom geometry of the inner glass layer.

6. The method of claim 2 , where bonding the deformed inner and outer glass layers to a handle wafer comprises bonding the outer glass layer to the handle wafer at a perimeter of the outer glass layer to simultaneously create a hermetic seal around the mushroom geometry of the inner glass layer with creation of a double ended support for the mushroom-shaped structure with environmental robustness.

7. The method of claim 1 , where bonding the deformed inner and outer glass layers to a handle wafer comprises bonding the outer glass layer only at the central post location, leaving a perimeter of the outer glass layer free and allowing for a second micro-wineglass gyroscope around the first mushroom-shape structure.

8. The method of claim 1 , where plastically deforming the inner and outer glass layers comprises plastically deforming the outer glass layer separately from plastically deforming the inner glass layer, and then assembling the deformed outer glass layer onto the deformed inner glass layer.

9. The method of claim 1 , where plastically deforming the inner and outer glass layers comprises plastically deforming the outer glass layer simultaneously with plastically deforming the inner glass layer, and simultaneously connecting the deformed outer glass layer to the deformed inner glass layer at the central post location.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising forming conductive traces either on the handle wafer or the shield of the outer glass layer for use in thermal stabilization of the gyroscope by resistive heating.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising metalizing the mushroom-shaped structure of the inner glass layer and metalizing the shield of the outer glass layer to form a capacitive gap therebetween for electrostatic transduction.

12. The method of claim 11 , where prior to plastically deforming the inner glass layer into a mushroom-shaped structure and deforming the outer glass layer into a shield capable of extending over the inner glass layer, further comprising disposing a sacrificial layer between the inner and outer glass layers, then plastically deforming the inner and outer glass layers, and removing the sacrificial layer to define a capacitive gap between the inner and outer glass layers.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing the substrate wafer with a pre-etched cavity in the substrate wafer disposed underneath the inner and outer glass layers to create a pressure differential for plastic deformation.

14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing the handle wafer with metal traces used for out-of-plane electrostatic transduction with the mushroom-shaped structure of the inner glass layer.

15. The method of claim 14 , where providing the handle wafer with metal traces used for out-of-plane electrostatic transduction with the mushroom-shaped structure of the inner glass layer comprises providing the metal traces defined as a group of 8, 12, 16, 24, 32 or 64 discrete electrodes.

16. The method of claim 14 , where providing the handle wafer with metal traces used for out-of-plane electrostatic transduction with the mushroom-shaped structure of the inner glass layer comprises providing a ring-shaped electrode.

17. The method of claim 14 , further comprising providing the handle wafer with a pre-fabricated multi-layer application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) for electronic amplification and control of a gyroscope signal.

18. An environmentally robust micro-wineglass gyroscope comprising: an inner glass layer forming a mushroom-shaped structure having a free perimeter; at least one shell electrode disposed on the mushroom-shaped structure; an outer glass layer forming a shield extending over the inner glass layer having a periphery while leaving the inner and outer glass layers connected together at a central post location; and a handle wafer bonded only to the central post location of the mushroom-shaped structure formed by the inner glass layer and bonded to the periphery of the shield formed by the outer glass layer, the handle wafer having at least one wafer electrode for electrostatic coupling with the at least one shell electrode, whereby a double ended supported central post location is created fort the mushroom-shaped structure of the inner glass layer to provide an environmentally robust gyroscope.

19. The environmentally robust micro-wineglass gyroscope of claim 18 , where the periphery of the outer glass layer comprises a hermetic seal around the mushroom geometry of the inner glass layer.

20. The environmentally robust micro-wineglass gyroscope of claim 18 , where the handle wafer includes metal traces defined as a group of 8, 12, 16, 24, 32 or 64 discrete electrodes in a ring electrode assembly used for out-of-plane electrostatic transduction with the mushroom-shaped structure of the inner glass layer.

21. The environmentally robust micro-wineglass gyroscope of claim 18 , wherein the handle wafer includes a pre-fabricated multi-layer application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) coupled to the at least one wafer electrode for electronic amplification and control of a gyroscopic signal.

22. A micro-wineglass gyroscope comprising: an inner glass layer forming a mushroom-shaped structure having a free perimeter; at least one inner shell electrode disposed on the mushroom-shaped structure; an outer glass layer forming a shield extending over the inner glass layer having a free periphery while leaving the inner and outer glass layers connected together at a central post location; at least one outer shell electrode disposed on the mushroom-shaped structure; and a handle wafer bonded only to the central post location of the mushroom-shaped structure formed by the inner glass layer, the handle wafer having at least one wafer electrode for electrostatic coupling with the at least one inner and/or outer shell electrodes.